Calculating Labor Costs

If you’re not charging customers for all employee expenses, you’re losing money

Labor is one of the most difficult costs to predict
in an estimate. Basically, it’s determined
by calculating the hours required to complete
a task or project, and then charging what it costs
your business to compensate its field employees.
But trying to predict the time required to complete
a task or a project, especially if someone other
than you will do the work, requires judgment and
experience.
You can get unit costs for labor from a cost estimate
book, but you have to be careful. The numbers
in the book are unlikely to accurately reflect
your own hard costs, even if you apply the regional
adjustment factors provided. Your labor charges
must reflect